Have A Few Minutes? Read Emily Zanotti’s “Real Time” D-Day Tweets
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June 6, 2018Like every American who gives a sh*t, I’ve head the story of D-Day a hundred times over…
And it still, every account manages to entirely rip my heart apart.
If you read anything today, D-Day, it should be Emily Zanotti’s “real time” tweets. She did an absolutely fantastic job.
This, of course, should be the soundtrack as you read. If you don’t know why, you will soon enough.
Beethoven's 5th had huge significance throughout the War – the short-short-short-long rhythmic pattern of its opening corresponding in Morse code to the letter 'V' for Victory,
— Anne Louise Avery (@AnneLouiseAvery) June 6, 2018
Take it away, Emily.
74 years ago, at this moment, nearly 4:30am on the English Channel: American troops, given a final breakfast, and armes with this note were about to undertake the most important action of the European theater in World War II. pic.twitter.com/1cehfmZ6Sw
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
By now, 74 years ago, the 82nd and 101st airborne were on the ground east of the beaches, securing the causeways so troops could exit the beaches inland. At 4am, they liberate Sainte-Mère-Eglise. By 6am, they will have completed their objectives against all odds. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
In 40 minutes, shelling will begin on Omaha beach. Most projectiles will miss their targets, leaving troops storming Omaha beach vulnerable to plenty of German artillery – but not all of it. Mercifully, the German Army is unprepared. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At 6am, the invasion begins. Clouds are low, wind is mild. Rain is falling. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At 4:35am, Allied bombadiers begin to shell Ponite Du Hoc, a sheer cliff that 120 Army Rangers will be required to scale in less than 5 minutes before securing a German stronghold. They will. And they will hold their position for days without relief. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
In just 15 minutes, the official "landing" will begin. Allied bombs are dropping on German coastal defenses. Men are boarding their landing crafts. At around 5:20am, the Germans will finally, fully realize what's happening. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At 4:40am, an order goes out to the German Panzer divisions to move closer to the Normandy beaches. The order will stand for about an hour until Armed Forces High Command rescinds it, preferring to wait until Hitler wakes up.
Hitler sleeps until 9:30. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
By now, on #DDay, the American and British airborne divisions have made progress. Americans have secured the causeways leading away from Utah beach. The British have captured the Merville battery. Invasions on both Utan ahd Sword beaches will go ahead as planned.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Right now, thousands of troops are in landing crafts, slowly making their way across the channel. The chop is heavy. It's raining, foggy. Everyone is cold, wet, and sick. Soaked to the bone. And yet, the misery is only beginning. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
It's 5am. Go time. 23 Allied cruisers and more than 100 destroyers begin to fire at the French shoreline and the German artillery bunkers. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At 6:30, the US will land at Utah and Omaha beaches. At 7:10 Rangers are due at Ponite Du Hoc between the two beaches. At 7:30, the British will storm Sword and Gold beaches. At 7:45, the Canadians will head to Juno. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Right now, at 5:30am, 74 years ago off the Normandy coast, there were thousands of young men in boats about to be the difference between victory and defeat, between freedom and a life in chains. Honor them. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
It's 5:35am. The American forces launch 29 amphibious tanks. 27 of them will sink almost immediately but the tank divisions keep going.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
We succeeded with less tragedy than anticipated. Churchill refused to say it at the time, but the Allies anticipated a 90% casualty rate. https://t.co/ycUiHCBNkV
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Now the Germans know the Allies are here. The most dangerous gun, the Longues-sur-Mer battery opens fire for the first time on the USS Arkansas. It's getting real. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
It's sunrise. It's foggy, rainy. There are low clouds preventing airborne bombadiers from seeing their targets. Two meter swells rock the landing crafts. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
It's 6am. Allied bombardment ends. It's time to storm the beaches. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Beethoven's 5th begins to play on radios across France. It's the signal that activates the Resistance. Time to spring into action, disrupt German supply lines, block roads, flood train tracks. It's a successful operation. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
There it is.
At around 6:30, the Americans are due to begin storming Utah beach, but the current scatters them across, and they land 2,000 meters south of their planned landing point. It's a blessing. They miss German artillery. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The Americans go ashore at Utah. Thanks to the hard work of parachute divisions, the land is secure. Utah will be the day's great success.
Omaha will be very different. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At 6:30am, the 1st and the 29th Infantry divisions land across a huge stretch of beach. The ships did not hit their marks. German artillery is operating. The landing troops come under heavy fire. Troops take cover but casualties are high.
The surf runs red with blood. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The second assault on Omaha beach won't begin until 7am. By then, there will be thousands of casualties, but the troops will have made some inland progress. It will not be easy. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At 7:15am, 225 Rangers will make the assault on Pointe Du Hoc. They will scale the cliff face in five minutes. They will secure the batteries, but will discover most of the guns have been moved or destroyed. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
By 10am, two thousand soldiers lie dead or wounded on Omaha beach, and the battle is still far from over. Hundreds are dying in the waves, drowning, some caught in beach defenses. Many of their bodies will never be found. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Remember. #DDay pic.twitter.com/k4ThaWJx1m
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
It's 2:30pm. The battle that began so early this morning on Omaha beach is finally turning. Americans liberate a closely guarded beach exit in the Easy Red sector, overwhelm the Germans and reach Colleville-sur-Mer. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
By now, there are over 150,000 troops, 5,000 ships and 800 aircraft involved in the battle for the Normandy coast. 4,000 men are already dead. More than 6,000 are wounded. But we're winning. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
It's shocking to believe, but at this point, more than eight hours after the invasion began, German Gen. Rommel is only NOW on his way to the front. Thinking the coast was safe, he'd gone to Paris for leave and then home to his wife for a vacation in Germany. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
We often consider #DDay from a US perspective, but we secured less than half the beaches. Soldiers from the U.K. and Canada secured the other three (Sword, Gold, and Juno), and held the bridges between them. They would be KEY to victory in the days ahead. #DDay https://t.co/RU7ziWNKdN
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At around 3:30pm the Germans launch their final counter-attack on Omaha beach and in Colleville-sur-Mer. It fails. Over the next two hours, the battle turns. Tanks ready to come ashore. In an hour, there will be a command post on Easy Red. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
On Sword and Gold beaches, the British have stormed German strongpoints and are looking to control the port, so the Allies can bring their artillery ashore. It will take two hours, but they'll do it. By nightfall, the all-important port is in Allied hands. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
tHitler is finally awake and is convinced to move the Panzer tank divisions into place near the Normandy beaches. It will be 4:20pm before the Panzers manage to launch a counter-attack. Germany has been taken almost completely by surprise. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At just after 2:00pm, the Germans abandon their final artillery post on Pointe du Hoc. The Army Rangers have succeeded in taking the cliff, but will have to hold it for the next 155 hours without reinforcements. Only 90 of the 225 will be left. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Even as the Allies win small victories, the worst is ahead. Troops will fight, block by block, hedgerow by hedgerow, in flooded fields, against retreating German forces. It will be days before relief. It will take ten days just to liberate Caen. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
#DDay by the numbers. pic.twitter.com/kn7fA3MwKi
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
By now, the Americans have secured most of the Omaha beachhead. But it's taken more than 6 hours to more just around 200 meters. There are 2,400 casualties on Omaha alone. Around 9,000 altogether. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The best part of #DDay is that very few of these men knew they would be great, or thought they would achieve greatness on a beach in France. They were just doing their job. They rose to the occasion, and will again, over and over, over the next year. #DDay https://t.co/l7bDsqJ17C
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
A few people have asked about women. My #DDay and #WWII research is primarily about the women who led resistance efforts inside France ahead of the invasion. You'll just have to read my book (due out this time next year). 🙂
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
I will ABSOLUTELY read that. It sounds really, REALLY interesting.
I have a vintage Eisenhower jacket, a dress uniform from someone in the 2nd infantry division. I am 5'2" and 125lbs and it barely fits me. It's too small. These were young men raised in the Depression. Their strength came from within. That's the only explanation. #DDay https://t.co/dRxc3mnfqb
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At around 2:30pm, word comes that the troops are now progressing up the 100ft tall cliffsides behind Omaha beach. At 2:41, German resistance surrenders on the beachhead. The USS Harding takes care of the last of the German snipers, bombing a church belltower. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Robert Capa was one of the few photographers to chronicle #DDay. He had no idea what was coming and wore his Burberry coat into the surf. He was caught on a beach defense and watched men die around him. Only a handful of his photographs survive, most lost in a darkroom accident. https://t.co/3vWGtLA0yK
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
One female journalist was able to see the events of #DDay firsthand: Martha Gelhorn. She snuck aboard a hospital ship and made the trip across the channel. She barely got to write; unable to send her home, the nurses conscripted her into helping treat the wounded.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
#DDay is not over. At around 5:00pm, the Germans manage to consolidate their forces and plan a counter-attack. BBC broadcasts a speech from Gen. Charles De Gaulle of the Free French."Behind the heavy cloud of our blood and our tears, the sun of our greatness is shining again."
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Since night is falling in Normandy, here are a few interesting facts about #DDay you might not know:
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The full scale of Operation Overlord was massive and involved more than 2 million troops from all Allied nations. Planning began nearly a year in advance. Even Churchill was skeptical the invasion would work. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
In the year before 6/6/44, the Allies made more than 3200 reconnaissance missions in France. They helped organize a vast Resistance and counter-intelligence network. They even asked British citizens for vacation photos from Normandy to get a sense of the coast. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The Germans assumed the Allies would invade at Pas-de-Calais, up the coast from Normandy. Gen. Rommel fortified the Normandy beaches, anyway. He was the only German general to guess the invasion location, but he was in Germany on vacation June 6th. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The first *official* #DDay casualties actually happened in April, when German torpedo boats sunk Allied ships conducting a dress rehearsal off the English coast. The Germans thought it was just a military exercise and forgot about it immediately. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Part of the Allied plan for #DDay involved double agents who convinced the Germans an invasion was planned at Calais. While the 101st and 82nd jumped over Normandy, the Allies dropped dummies at Calais. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
In his pocket, Eisenhower carried a statement to be read if the invasions failed. “I have withdrawn the troops… If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.” #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The morning of #DDay, the US Military issued thousands of condoms. They were put to good use: soldiers put the rubbers over the mouths of their rifles to keep the barrels dry while they waded through the surf.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Most of the original #DDay objectives were not met. The Allies did not capture Caen and would not for several days. But by midnight, 150,000 men were ashore, there were two temporary ports being built, and 20,000 vehicles headed inland.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
If you were in the first wave of troops to hit the beaches, between 6:30am and 7:30am, your chances of becoming a casualty was one in two. #DDay
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At least one Allied commander charged women of the WAF to "test" his men in bars ahead of #DDay to see if they would divulge the invasion plan to a pretty girl. None did. Aside from one map that flew out a window, news of the invasion was kept airtight. Even MI5 was impressed.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The #DDay invasion beyond "Band of Brothers:" pic.twitter.com/EmjH4427Zs
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
The invasion Utah Beach is really a fantastic study. It was an operation that met with unbelivable difficulties (paratroopers landing way off, planes crashing, cloud cover, drifting in the surf), but all objectives were achieved. Stunning. #DDay https://t.co/pAQzi57Ipt
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
At about 6pm on #DDay, the British and Canadians secure beaches Juno and Sword and reinforcements begin landing at Omaha. The Germans radio home that several key villages have fallen to "the enemy."
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
These Army Rangers come under heavy German counter attack. They've planned for reinforcements but none arrive. They will hold off the Germans for more than three days alone. Only 90 will survive the ordeal. #DDAY
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
#American soldiers on their way to the Normandy beaches on D-Day on June 6, 1944.#DDay #TDIH pic.twitter.com/hrLB03yDe0
— World War II History (@WW2Facts) June 6, 2018
Of the 35 men from Beford, VA (the Bedford Boys), 21 died. https://t.co/H7nxRsoNac
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
By 8pm on D-Day, Bayeux is in sight. Reinforcements arrive on a secure, 55-mile stretch of land. Allies have advanced, in some cases, five to ten miles inland. A German counterattack is fizzling out. #DDay74
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
Windows of small Norman church at Angoville au Plain commemorating American paratroopers. pic.twitter.com/OPdnkW294I
— Tom Neven (@TomNeven1) June 6, 2018
I left this account to the end of the day on purpose. It is a retelling of the horror the first men to land on Omaha faced on #DDay . Do not read it if you have a weak constitution. I am serious. It haunts me and I've heard many stories firsthand.https://t.co/p2brhaXBqz
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
If I have inspired you to learn more about #DDay, I encourage you to look for personal accounts, from individuals, divisions — the 1st & 2nd Infantry, the Army Rangers, the 101st and 82nd Airborne. Those are the places you'll experience the story most vividly.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) June 6, 2018
This is why I stand.
